Radio resource optimization is of interest for mobile internet service providers (ISPs) in efforts to maintain a high-quality user experience. Although battery capacity continues to be a basis for user selection of mobile devices, it is limited by physical constraints, such as size and weight, of the mobile device. In cellular networks, both 3G and 4G, the user equipment (UE), or mobile device, can stay in a high-power state occupying radio resources for a time duration before the allocated resource is released by the network and the UE enters into a low power state.
The time period, also known as the radio resource control (RRC) tail can prevent frequent state promotions (resource allocation), which can cause unacceptably long delay for the UE, as well as additional processing overhead for the radio access network. However, most contemporary mobile ISPs use a static and conservative setting of the tail time, which can be the cause of energy and radio resource inefficiency in both 3G and 4G networks.
The above-described background relating to radio resource optimization mechanisms is merely intended to provide a contextual overview of some current issues, and is not intended to be exhaustive. Other contextual information may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.